Netflix Inc. has named a new communications chief, announcing the hire about two months after the previous executive was fired for using a racial slur in conversations at work.
The streaming-content company said it hired Rachel Whetstone as chief communications officer, bringing her on from Facebook Inc. FB, +1.61% , which she joined last year as vice president of communications.
In June, Netflix NFLX, +1.61% Chief Executive Reed Hastings said he fired the company’s previous chief communications executive, Jonathan Friedland, for using the “N-word” in conversation with colleagues, including black employees at Netflix. Friedland has apologized for his remarks. He didn’t use the slur at any co-worker, the Journal previously reported.
Whetstone has also worked as a political adviser in the United Kingdom as well as in senior communications and public policy roles at both Google and Uber Technologies Inc., according to Netflix. She will start at the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company after spending a few weeks transitioning out of her current job, a spokesman said.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
Also popular on WSJ.com:
Signs of a strong economy: Hedges are overgrown and lawns need mowing.
Public bravado, private doubts: Inside the unraveling of Elon Musk’s Tesla buyout